Alphabedtimes

Twenty-six Alphababies prepare for bedtime. Putting A, B, C, and 23 other little ones to bed for the night is a daunting task. The bespectacled Alpha Mom needs a megaphone to call the kids to attention: "TIME FOR BED!" From there, in a style reminiscent of Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault's Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989), illustrated by Lois Ehlert, each child romps, rolls, and races to bed. Despite lights out, the kids have an "alpha pillow fight!" after which Mommy and Daddy finally get them to sleep with a kiss and one last tuck into bed. This spirited family is full of personality, each child with a different stuffed animal and pajama set and a unique journey to bedtime. The illustrations capture the bustle of a house bursting with children, from the chaos of the dinner table and children slipping on carpets and overturning houseplants in their haste to a series of bathtubs full of activity. A particularly effective string of illustrations shows the progression of lights out, from the line of light from a cracked bedroom door through the pillow fight and right into the appearance of two perturbed parents. The rhyming text bounces along, an easy read-aloud, with rich vocabulary like impish, jazzy, and scramble making for a fun, silly, relatable read with detailed, appealing illustrations. The Alphababies are diverse in skin tone, their mother is brown-skinned, and their father is light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A playful approach to teaching kids the alphabet. (Picture book. 2-5) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.